I spent 4 months in China, and luckily met a guy who enthusiastically trained Sanda. The best way to deal with a side kick is to parry them with a downward scooping motion. Scoop to their inside, and some sweet counter options present themselves. They also tend to side kick quite close, bringing up the foot close to the body, then twisting it out. In my opinion it's a mistake to do so, since punching at that range would be a better option. All it accomplishes is pushing, and is no real threat. Honestly, even in pro sanda matches, the side kick seems to serve no more of a role than the Thai push kick, so don't worry about it much. There are other things from a Sanda guy you should worry about.

I don't know what context this is in, MT rules, Sanda,friendly sparring, ect..but here are some general pointers I might offer, especially concerning him getting close to you:

As an overt Muay Thai fan, it looked like Sanda was formulated as a type of kickboxing ruleset and style where the Chinese could beat finally beat Thai fighters after years of getting owned . They heavily train scooping the round kick and throwing, so don't kick at anything above thigh level, and only then following a punch combo. They will dump you from the clinch as fast as they can (seeing how many Chinese fighters lost in the clinch in prior challenge matches, it's not surprising). Sanda uses more liberal throwing rules than Muay Thai, so it might help to be familiar with several basic Judo style throws, and how to counter them, if you're going to fight his rule set. Sanda fighters are scored heavily on throws, and they frequently win their "vs other style" challenge matches on throws primarily. Elbow techniques, if allowed, would be a huge advantage. Sanda rules ban elbows, and in challenge matches with Thai fighters, rarely let them be allowed. Their basic attacks are practically a mirror image of MT, using the same basic punches and kicks, except with more emphasis on the sidekick. As for things to give you more of an advantage, work the basic boxing combinations, something that seems lacking in both MT and Sanda. Also, their ability to do anything but throw from the clinch is poor in comparison, and Thai boxers who are good at countering throwing do quite well against them.

Like Ashly said, work your footwork. Either get comfy fighting from a Clinch where he'll be trying to throw you, or keep your distance and out box him. Finally, throw some proper round kicks in there following a jab or cross, and show him why China had to make up a watered down version of Thailand's national sport.:evil4:

I never have. The kick usually isn't meant as a finishing strike, but rather used to push away or off-balance your opponent. Was just watching this San Shou side kick tutorial, and it seems that he does the same thing, but it is feasible to land one of these on the face and get lucky I suppose.

Anyway, I personally have caught a few people at throwdowns with sidekicks pretty solid to the ribs and they've sat out a few rounds due to them. But were it a real fight or a match, and not just training/sparring I doubt they'd give up to a little pain like that.

Knowing is not enough, you must apply...
...Willing is not enough you must do ~Bruce Lee

Working on the hip angle - tilt the body a bit back and (even an old ****) the side can go from mid to high and often scores to the face. In this case scooping doesn't work. Like look at Clyde's high side kick to the face, one can't scoop at your own nose level.

Wado-ryu teaches as a basic drill a flanking to the outside movement with an inward scoop. If you lift sometimes you can dump 'em on their back. Kyokushin has a nice outward scoop (that is part of the kata *tensho* that Aesopian has as his avatar) where you move to the inside of the kick (side/front snap) toward their center and do a downward block (circular) to following thru to up and outside and wrap your hand over the knee with shin caught against your upper arm or shoulder - twist - and they either go down to their opposite side or dislocate their knee.

Last edited by patfromlogan; 2/11/2007 1:38am at .

"Preparing mentally, the most important thing is, if you aren't doing it for the love of it, then don't do it." - Benny Urquidez

Well usually when people try to sidekick me up towards the head (or when I try it to them) I just move back out of range. Fairly simple. Trying to parry or scoop really is unnecessary at that point, and simple evasion does the trick.

Knowing is not enough, you must apply...
...Willing is not enough you must do ~Bruce Lee